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Show .-, ' . - or Lee. Stratford fT"il fe J t v 1 i 4 x. sk"" S te- 41 '?"&Z?? ' "Robert E Lee. , , I By ELMO SCOTT WATSON Otf V " I 4'' " P'l 1 A LTI10UGH, as Sec.etaiy Stanton, f Kkt " $K ! V 4l)3T ttt i fk standing at the bed.ule of the I i k ' . F t SuJt- :X C ? dMngLoo.ne.chum.ciow he ' ' J " tGS 1 ETA belongs to the aes," th.ee states I J - tJffeT ,ft7& 1 2u h8M r't,CU'ar IVlhpWoi Lincoln, HodrfenkKv. fefAm ; Pride n claiming as their own ' 7 piKiiivf . V B-t American whose birth- S;!:ions t0 thelr rule. Tnus, t00j there were t - MZ&Bf : g J 1 day we letrate on ruar, i2. Hnnksea reeorde(J ln history before the name of mMmfm 1 Kentucky gave him birth; Indi- A,frpf, d L, , wfls written , the Doraesday 'SMM J-SS ana nurtured him in his boyhood r,t IssiMisipsfe CsCD J witnessed the first tragedy B , ,f , in the life of this man of sor- lhe Hankses were Malmesbury men. There J rows; Illinois gave him to the 3 ,lght'ng ln tlmt Part of E6land during the Thomas Hanld Patcat adjoining W of CoLX.ec ... . . . Eni ish Civ war and it was as a result of this 4 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON A LTHOUGH, as Secretary Stanton, iA standing at the bedside of the dying Lincoln exclaimed, "Iow he belongs to the aes," three states have always taken particular J pride in claiming as their own V the great American whose birth-m birth-m we cu'eorate on February 12. Vjh- !l Kentucky gave him birth; Indi-rfefki Indi-rfefki ana nurtured him in his boyhood V anc' witnessed the first tragedy ' in the life of this man of sor-rows sor-rows ; Illinois gave him to the nation and In htr rich soil laid his weary body to rest when his work was done. Now, thanks to the researches of an indefatigable indefati-gable Lincoln scholar, at least five other states may lay claim to having contributed something to the greatness that was Abraham Lincoln If heredity may be regarded as the prime factor ln valuating the greatness of a man. One of them is Massachusetts, another Is New Jersey, another Pennsylvania, another West Virginia and the last and herein lies another example of the eternal fitness of things is that "Mother of Presidents," the commonwealth of Virginia. The scholar who has brought to light the facts which Justify thv! above statements is William E. Barton, who In his book "The Lineage of Lincoln," published by the Bobbs-Merrlll company, apparently has revealed all that Is ever likely to be known about the forebears fore-bears of Abraham Lincoln. In his foreword Barton states that "This quest has carried me three times across the ocean and has sent me to Innumerable courthouses in Virginia, Vir-ginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois." Illi-nois." In the latter places he was working in virgin historical soil and amid the dusty crumbling old documents which he unearthed, he established estab-lished for the first time the complete record, so far as It seems likely ever to be complete, of "Lincoln's maternal ancestors, the Hankses. The story of the Great Emancipator's paternal ancestors, an-cestors, the Lincolns, has been told before, but Barton's Investigations hare added to, and In some cases, corrected some minor errors made ly previous workers in tht field. It is in tracing the Hanks ancestral lines, however, how-ever, that Doctor Barton's work has been so outstanding. out-standing. "For two hundred years, from their first landing In Virginia, no member of the Hanks family. In the ancestral line of Abraham Lincoln, made one known scratch of the pen to aid the genealogist, and the public records are almost Incredibly scarce," says Doctor Barton. "Not only so, but wars from Bacon's rebellion to the Civil war htive wiped out completely the records of some counties vhere our need was greatest. Compared to all these difficulties, the tracing of the paternal Lincoln line has been compara-,- tively easy. The name of Lincoln goe3 back to in its earliest form to the days of Roman occupation occupa-tion of P.ngland. Llndum was a Roman colony established about 86 A. D. Through the successive succes-sive modifications of Lindum-Colonla, Lindum-colny, Lindum-colny, Lindcolon and Llndcoln the place name of Lincoln finally emerged. So there was a city of Lincoln in Lincolnshire and since In the early days surnames Indicated where a man lived, there came into being families of Lincolns. The first recorded use of Lincoln as a family name appears ln the Domesday Book In 1086. Alfred de Lincoln (1. e. "Alfred who comes from the county of Lincoln") Lin-coln") was a Saxon by birth, but his lands were saved from confiscation by his marriage to a Norman woman. Although the name of Lincoln originated In Lincolnshire, it was from Norfolk that the first Lincolns came to America. Abraham Lincoln's grent-great-great-great-grandfather was Samuel Lincoln who was born ln Hingham, Norfolk, in 1619, emigrated to Massachusetts in 1037 and died in Hingham, Mass., in 1690. From this original immigrant seven Lincolns In direct line to Abra-j Abra-j ilf- ham, the President, can be traced. It is In trac ing this line that three states, New Jersey, Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania and Virginia, get their claim to the immortal im-mortal Lincoln. The tracing of this line Is also a striking commentary on the migratory habits of the pioneer stock from which Abraham Lincoln sprang. For not one of the seven died in the same town in which he was born and only one ln the same state. They are the following: I Samuel Lincoln. II Mordecal Lincoln, Sr., was born ln Hingham, Hing-ham, Mass., in 1057 and died in Scituate, Mass., " ln 1727. III Mordecal Lincoln, Jr., was born ln Scituate, Mass., April 24, 16S6, and after a residence in New Jersey died in Berks county, Pa., ln 1736. IV John Lincoln was born in Berks county, Pa., in 1716 and died In Virginia In 17SS. V Capt. Abraham Lincoln was born In Virginia in 1741 and died In Kentucky iu 17S0. VI Thomas Lincoln was born In Virginia In 1778 and died in Illinois In 1S51. VII Abraham Lincoln was born ln Kentucky In 1S09 and died in Washington in lSKfi. The maternal line of Abraham Lincoln, the Hunkses, also trace buck to England, nnd ante-ilnte ante-ilnte tlio Lincolns by many years. In his investigations, investi-gations, Doctor Barton found innumerable Hunkses us far buck as the reign of Kins Athi-lstan and ' br-Core . . . Athelstun died in 941, more tliun a century before William the Conqueror and his Normans invaded England and subjected the Saxons to their rule. Thus, too, there were Hankses recorded In history before the name of Alfred de Lincoln was written ln the Doraesday Book. The Hankses were Malmesbury men. There was fighting in that part of England during the English Civil war and it was as a result of this that the first Hanks came to America. He was Thomas Hanks who was one of 27 persons deported de-ported from England In 1654 as a punishment which was being inflicted on Cromwell's men who were captured by the Royalists. Thomas Hanks became an Important landholder ln what is now Gloucester county, Virginia. The most that we know about him is through various land purchases pur-chases but his name disappears from history after the Indian uprising of 1675 and the Bacon rebellion rebel-lion of 1676. But In 1697 the name of William Hanks appears In Richmond county. There Is every reason to believe that he was the son of Thomas Hanks and from him the maternal ancestry an-cestry of Abraham Lincoln is traced. That line reads as follows : I Thomas Hanks. II William Hanks. Born probably ln Gloucester county, Virginia, about 1655. Died in Richmond county In 1704. HI John Hanks. Born In North Farnham parish ln Richmond county, date unknown, and died In 1740. IV Joseph Hanks. Born ln North Farnham parish, December 20, 1725. Died in Nelson county, Kentucky in 1793. V Lucy Hanks. Born probably in 1766 In Richmond Rich-mond county, Virginia, and died In 1825(7). VI Nancy Hanks. Born In Mineral county, West Virginia in 1783. Died ln Spencer county, Indiana, In-diana, October 5, 1818. VII Abraham Lincoln. It will be noted that the place of Nancy Hanks' birth was given as Mineral county, W. Va. It was not known by that name In 1783 for It was then Hampshire county of Virginia, but during the Civil war the western part of the Old Dominion became a separate state and thus another state Is added to the roll of those which have a particular par-ticular claim upon Abraham Lincoln. Joseph Hanks and his family had moved from Richmond county to Hampshire county some time before 1782. In March, 17S4, that family again migrated, this time to Kentucky where Nancy Hanks was to meet Thomas Lincoln, marry him in Washington county, June 12, 1806, and then on that February day 121 years ago give birth to the boy whose name was to become world famous. But the fact that Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia have joined Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois in the list of states closely connected with the career of Abraham Lincoln Is not the only revelation In the new Barton book. More Interesting still Is the fact that the two outstanding leaders in the Civil war were relatives. In one of his chapter headings head-ings Barton makes the startling statement "Lincoln "Lin-coln was a Lee" and in that chapter proves that both Abraham Lincoln, by virtue of his office as President, commander In chief of the Union forces, and Robert E. Lee, the great battle leader of the Confederate forces, trace back Lincoln through the maternal line and Lee through the paternal line to a common ancestor, Col. Richard Lee. Col. Richard Lee and his wife Anna arrived In Virginia In 1642, an event which "marked the beginning of the authentic Lee history In the Old Dominion." The second son of Richard and Anna was also named Richard. The fifth son of this Richard was Henry Lee, and the third son of this Henry was the Lieut. Col. Henry Lee, who married the Lucy Grynies who according to the story was "the Lowland Beauty" of Washington's early life. The second child and oldest son of Lieut. Col. Lee was Maj. Gen. Henry Lee, who bestowed upon Washington the famous encomium "first In war, first In peace, and first In the hearts of his countrymen." And the fourth son of General Gen-eral Lee was Robert E. Lee, of Arlington and Appomattox. "And now, before we Introduce the Hanks family Into this narrative, It is time for us to take a lesson les-son In geography," says Doctor Barton. And he gives that lesson thus: When Colonel Richard Lee established his home In Virginia in 1642. there were but eight counties ln that commonwealth and he lived ln the County of York. That county was subsequently divided and redivlded and subdivided. Before Colonel Lee died, his estate, which he called Paradise, was located lo-cated In Gloucester county, on the borders of New Kent, later the home of Martha Custis Washington. Washing-ton. Gloucester was then the richest and most populous pop-ulous county in Virginia and was in the peninsula formed by the York river on the south and the Rappahannock on the north. His neighbors may be presumed to have varied in quality, but if Virginia Vir-ginia had an aristocracy In that day, Gloucester county was the center of it, and some of his friends were among the most noted men In Virginia. Vir-ginia. "Ye are already aware that Thomas F-l:mks was at lonst twenty-one years a resident of this Gloucester Glou-cester region. And now we discover thnt, as his holdings widened and his boundaries followed the lines of other planters, two of his patents grant him land adjoining the estate of Colonel Lee! Thia was none other than Colonel Richard Lee, progenitor progeni-tor of the Lee family, and ancestor of Robert B. Lee! That belligerent old royalist, foremost ln Virginia ln support of Charles I, and one of the first to hail Charles II as the lawful sovereign of England, lived for many years a near neighbor of Thomas Hanks! The loyalist ancestor of Robert Rob-ert E. Lee and the rebel ancestor of Abraham Lincoln Lin-coln were next-plantation neighbors in Gloucester county! ' Furthermore, when Bacon's rebellion ws over, and the Hanks family moved across the Rappahannock, Rappa-hannock, so did the Lees. And as Thomas Hanks had long lived neighbor to Colonel Richard Lee on the south shore of the Rappahannock, their children in successive generations genera-tions lived neighbors on the north Bhore of the same stream. The Lees established their abiding place at a plantation which they named Stratford, and the Hankses, Intermarrying with the Wood-bridge Wood-bridge family, whose plantation, occupied the site of an old Indian village not far away, lived for a hundred years with Lees on three sides of them. It was only natural, therefore, that sometime there would be Intermarriage of the two families. fam-ilies. And that Is exactly what took place. The original Richard Lee had seven sons, and one of these had a son named William who married a Dorothy Taylor, the daughter of an Elizabeth Taylor who lived to a great age. William and i Dorothy in their turn had a son whom they named William, and Elizabeth Taylor made this son, who would be her grandson, the executor of her will, dated 1747. The executor took his time, and at his death in 1764 he had not completed the settlement settle-ment of his grandmother's estate. When his own affairs were adjusted balances were found to be due to four of his children under the will of Elizabeth Taylor. But two of these children by that time had passed away, and their balances were awarded to their surviving husbands, of whom one was Thomas Hanks and the other Joseph Hanks. The Inheritancea amounted ln the one case to 9, and in the other to 2. The records contain the Taylor will and the settlement of the estate of this William Lee, and from these records Doctor Barton got his start In this quest. Thomas Hanks is shown to have married Betsey Lee, and Joseph Hanks became be-came the husband of Ann Lee. Joseph and Ann had a daughter Lucy, who became the mother of Nancy Hanks, the mother of Abraham Lincoln. Thus Robert E. Lee, born In Virginia ln 1870, Is shown to have descended from one of the seven sons of Col. Richard Lee of 1642 ; there were four Intervening generations, "rather wide apart," says Doctor Barton, because in several Instances' In-stances' the descent was through younger sons. Abraham Lincoln, born In Kentucky In 1809, Is traced back to the same Col. Richard Lee through another of his seven sons, but this time there were six intervening generations. "In establishing the descent of Abraham Lincoln Lin-coln from the Illustrious families of Lee, Wood-rldge, Wood-rldge, Taylor and the rest, we practically assured ourselves of his descent also from such Intimately related families as the Wormsleys, the Carters, the Corbins and 'lie others," Doctor Barton continues. con-tinues. "Abraham Lincoln sprang from the loins of the common people through 'second' or 'undistinguished' 'undis-tinguished' families (Lincoln's own words), but they were not disreputable families and ln his veins was some of the bluest blood of the First Families of Virginia. "Robert E. Lee was born January 19, 1807. His father was the brilliant and improvident 'Light Horse Harry.' His mother was of the proud stock of 'King Carter.' Little more than two years later, on February 12, 1809, in Kentucky, Ken-tucky, late a county of Virginia, in a log cabin, Abraham Lincoln was born. His father was the good-natured and almost Impecunious Tom Lincoln, Lin-coln, and his mother was the gentle and Intelligent Intel-ligent Nancy Hanks. All these were native Virginians. Vir-ginians. "These two men present contrasts enough, but both were intellectual, both had unusual ability, both were men of magnanimity, who emerged from a cruel war without hatred, and who sought the welfare of a reunited country. Both were men of great heart and unsullied honor. Both were Virginians, Vir-ginians, and both belong to the whole of America. Both North and South should be proud to know that these two great and noble Americans were kinsmen." There is another interesting bit of history which Doctor Barton uncovered in his reseurches in the Hunks ancestry. "We think of the Turitans of Now England as fur removed from the Cavaliers Cava-liers of Virginia," he says, "but how many of us know that a few of those same Puritans went south nnd mingled their blond with thnt of the first families of Virginia. Perhaps, if we knew all the maternal lines, we should find that both Robert Rob-ert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln were Mayflower descendants." |